It looks like AI has officially announed the expected DEL - JFK non stop on the new 777 they have acquired. Is this an entirely new service or a change to an existing DEL - EUROPE- JFK service? It is slated to start from Feb 8 and that leaves it about a month and a half. Was this flight already uploaded into the system , how are the bookings on this service?

- Any info on the arrival and departures at DEL/JFK.
- How does DEL stand for connecting passengers compared to BOM?

It also looks like that they dont have commanders ready to fly these birds. What was AI's planning department doing? They had the schedule of delivery and obviously the arithmetic didnt add up - This deal had over 3 years time to figure out to train pilots for the 777.

Note that the "Hindu" article is incorrect in stating that "Air India has already so far received four 777-200LRs" (the "Hindu" is quoting an unnamed "senior AI official" ). AI have taken delivery of three 777-200LRs but ANetter Karan69 indicated that the fourth 777-200LR (VT-ALD) is scheduled for delivery later this week (on Dec 28th). There is also a fifth 777-200LR (VT-ALE) that will roll out within a few weeks, but whether VT-ALE is destined to be accepted by AI before Feb remains to be seen (given the delays in the acceptance by AI of the other 777s so far) .

[EDIT: correct typos and add comment on ALE]

[Edited 2007-12-24 10:57:11]

The best time to plant a tree is 40 years ago. The second best time is today.

I'm hoping that this new non-stop on AI will be more successful than their JFK-BOM nonstop. From what I heard, that flight averages under 100 passengers per flight. I think the NYC-India market is becoming quite saturated, with Jet Airways recently beginning EWR/JFK-BRU-India flights, as well as AI's, CO's, and DL's existing flights. AI may have a chance with DEL, since only CO serves that route from NYC, but somehow I think that this route may struggle as well. In my opinion, IAD would've been a better choice (not necessarily for a DEL flight, but for a new AI route in general) since they currently lack direct/nonstop flights to India and AI will soon be in *A. We'll see what happens, as AI does have a great onboard product on their 77L's/77W's.

DEL-JFK is not an optimal use of 772LR. I hope they switch to 773ER when more aircrafts are available, and use the 772LRs on routes where competitors do not have the equipment to offer non-stops.

A better route would have been BOM-ORD which has excellent O&D traffic, and UA feed at ORD. The ideal use would be BLR-SFO, but reports indicate that AI is instead looking at BLR-HKG-SFO. Not sure if AI can compete against CX on this route, or IT when it starts BLR-SFO non-stop.

Quoting LAXDESI (Reply 5):A better route would have been BOM-ORD which has excellent O&D traffic, and UA feed at ORD. The ideal use would be BLR-SFO, but reports indicate that AI is instead looking at BLR-HKG-SFO.

I wondered if BLR-Seoul-SFO would make a better route - " The tech route" - The reason- presence of a good number of South Korean firms in BLR ( likes of Sam sung and LG , Hynix etc ) and if good connections are provided to Chennai - it could also help the likes of Hyundai . Either way HK or Seoul would make excellent routing. I am not sure how the bi-laterals work between India and South Korea on traffic between South Korea and USA ( though this would mean competing against Singapore and United on the route - with AI joining * I would presume it would work out between the *A members)

Quoting The777Man (Reply 8):Air India's inflight magazine from November mentioned that they would fly SFO-BLR and I understood it to be nonstop but the wording wasn't very clear.

I've always said that any direct flight linking those two cities would be a money maker. I would even say that BLR-SJC is also a very realistic option. Now, if AI succeeds in going faster than IT, they will position themselves in a very interesting premium market.
I'm quite puzzled that no american carriers are interested in that particular market.